Who: Melinda May and Molly Walker What: Return of Babysitter Roulette! Where: Around town When: Backdated to yesterday afternoon Warnings: Disturbing revelations from AoS episode 2x17 "Melinda" explored here Status: Closed/Complete
Melinda wasn't sure how Skye did it. How did she rope her into keeping an eye out for Molly today? What was this place doing to her that she would agree to it? She just didn't deal very well with people, especially children. She was relieved when the kids returned from where they came from a few months ago, kids she would only have had in some other universe where things were all sunshine and rainbows, apparently.
Of course, most didn't know about her plans to start a family once upon a time. That was a pretty well hidden part of her life that she mostly suppressed. There were reasons for that, reasons she never discussed. There was a part of her that really didn't mind looking after Molly as she wandered about town. She wasn't more than just a few steps behind at all times. She may not be the most enthused about this, but she was going to protect the girl.
***
Molly had decided she liked May. Even if Skye’s work-mom wasn’t really nice or friendly or all that fun. She was totally awesome, and Skye and the science twins liked her. But what had really sold Molly was that Steve had said she was a good person. Steve didn’t just say anything. When he said things, it was true, and so Molly trusted.
Reviving Babysitter Roulette had been her idea. An excuse to get to know this woman in particular. Even though Molly really didn’t need a babysitter anymore. She was so totally old enough to hang out on her own. Even if her parents didn’t agree.
She skittered around about town, very aware that May was hanging around behind but always in sight.
“Don’t you ever talk?” she wondered after a while.
***
Melinda raised an eyebrow at that question. It wasn't something anyone would usually ask her, mostly out of fear of her potential wrath. She did give off a bit of a scary vibe, but she wouldn't actually hurt anyone for asking her something like that. Maybe grumble and glare a little...
But she didn't do any of those things. Molly was just a kid. It was natural for her to be curious about things.
"I talk," she finally said.
***
What Molly was actually curious about was what was so great about May that everyone liked her so much. All she saw was someone who was way too serious and boring. She turned, walking backwards, her own eyebrows lifted skeptically.
“So what? You just don’t want to talk to me? I’m not some stupid kid you know. I’m twelve.”
And she was skilled in the ways of preteen annoyance and sass.
***
Okay, that somehow made Melinda smile. She liked Molly because the kid did speak her mind. That was something she could appreciate. Most people were too busy being afraid of her.
"You aren't unique that way," she told the girl. "This is how I am with everyone."
There was no point in denying it.
***
Molly could accept that. Sometimes people were quiet. She didn’t like it or anything, but she could accept it. It was like how Steve was quiet sometimes or how her real mom had been. It was really boring for her, but she accepted that some people were just like that.
“If you’re going to be my grandma, you should talk to me more,” she announced all the same, and without warning took off down an alley. She didn’t doubt that May would be able to keep up with her sudden change of path. And if she couldn’t, well, then she wasn’t the ninja everyone seemed to think she was. Simple as that.
***
Whoa, what? Did she just infer that Melinda was her grandma? She was a lot of things. She had certain skill sets. Being anyone's grandmother was not any of those things. She didn't even have actual children of her own to begin with. She was Skye's S.O. Maybe she was even a mentor to her. But a mother figure? She wasn't so sure about that.
She was taken aback just enough to lose sight of Molly momentarily. She did look up just in time to watch the girl take off down the alley, and Melinda ran to catch up with her. The alley was a little bit concerning. It was just a little more shadowy than the street they'd just been on. She was just a little more on alert.
"Where are you going?" she asked, looking around for the girl.
***
Molly, though, was so sure about that. May was totally Skye’s work mom. And therefore her grandma. Like Iron Man was Micah’s grandpa. It made sense to her.
“It’s a game.” Molly was nowhere to be seen, scurrying through a shadow. The walls on either side of her made it hard to tell where her voice was coming from. It was a hiding tactic she’d learned when her life had been in danger. Now, it was just for fun. “You’re supposed to be good at things like finding people.”
And kicking butt.
***
Melinda let out an exasperated sigh. Molly might claim to not be a kid, but she was certainly acting as such right now. She wondered how any parent did this. They really weren't as easy to keep an eye on as she thought. The girl was almost as sneaky as an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
"Yeah, and your mom will kick my ass if anything happens to you," she said, not caring much about things like language in front of the child. She'd helped to train Skye herself. She knew what she was capable of, especially if anything happened to Molly.
She was now looking in all the shadowy corners. Where the hell could she have gotten to?
***
The girl had learned sneaking from some of the very best. She was super lucky she had a mom who entertained her crazy whims at least most of the time. She was also much less adult than she liked to pretend she was. She was still a girl who still hid bad things behind smiles and laughs and goofiness.
“You’re so boring.” There was clanking as Molly scrambled on top of a dumpster. The lid was closed and sturdy enough that a girl her size could stand on it. But it certainly wasn’t clean or safe.
“And ass is a bad word.” But if grown ups could use it, so could she, right? Because she was so totally grown up.
***
"It's not that bad," Melinda said, shrugging it off. She wasn't concerned about any trouble she could get into for it. The casual shrugging off behavior was suddenly replaced with real actual concern. She finally found Molly, and she wasn't at all pleased with what she found.
"Molly, you need to get down from there." She said it in a what she hoped was a more calming tone. She didn't go with the stern approach just yet. Sometimes that had a way of backfiring. This was what she'd call a delicate situation. The dumpster did not look at all sanitary.
***
It wasn’t at all sanitary, or safe, but Molly didn’t really care. So far May was the least awesome grandma she had. And that absolutely included the one she’d never actually met.
“Why?” she wondered, and stomped a foot to show that it was solid, at least. “It’s not like I’m going to fall or anything.” Except anyone who knew her knew she was prone to distraction and by extension clumsiness. She very well could fall if something else caught her attention.
She paused to consider it, and folded her arms. “I’ll get down if we go get ice cream.”
***
Melinda thought about that for a moment. She really did not like having terms of a negotiation dictated to her by a kid. At the same time, she didn't want Molly to get hurt. She didn't want to have to tell Skye her kid got hurt on her watch.
"Ice cream? Really? If that's what it'll take to get you down from there, then ice cream it is." It wasn't that much of a hardship, not that she'd admit that to anyone. She had to hand it to Molly, she was smart and knew how to get what she wanted.
***
Molly was pretty much an expert at getting what she wanted, and more than that, she was good at reading what would work on people.
She hesitated a moment, watching May, judging whether or not she could trust her word before shrugging, deciding it was good enough and she’d think of something else if it didn’t work, and just leaping down to the pavement.
She landed poorly, even from the few feet in the air, and wound up toppling to the ground with a surprised cry as he ankle twisted beneath her and her hands scraped across the filthy alley.
***
"Molly!" Melinda called, rushing over to the girl, kneeling on the ground beside her. She didn't tend to break her usual stoic facade, but this was different. She thought that part of her, the more maternal aspect, had been suppressed a long time ago.
She was suddenly frozen in time. Seven Years ago. Bahrain. It was the last time she thought she had to rescue a little girl, not much younger than Molly. She hadn't realized until now how much Molly reminded her of Katya, right down to having a special ability.
"It's going to be okay," Melinda assured her.
That's about when she could feel herself freezing up. She'd said something similar to Katya, who'd been consumed with darkness and insanity because of the power that was too much for her tiny frame to handle. She fed on others' pain, and ended their lives just as fast. She was killing everyone around her, and Melinda and her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were next.
Molly was hurt. She needed help, and all Melinda saw at the moment was a ghost.
***
Molly was completely unaware of what was going on in May’s head, and she was more interested in the fact that she’d hurt herself. Skye was definitely going to lecture her so much for doing things she wasn’t supposed to and probably tell her scrapes were what she got for not doing as she was told.
She crinkled up her nose, turning over, looking down at the tear in her jeans and the dirty, bloody scrapes on her hands. “Gross.”
She held out a hand toward May for the woman to take a look at. Grown ups always looked immediately.
***
This was all too eerily familiar. The situation was different, vastly, but Molly was still a kid, reaching her hand out toward Melinda. Like Katya had.
She thought she had to save the girl. Instead, the girl was sinister and insane and she was killing people just by touching them. That was the day Melinda's world was altered forever as she she had to do the unthinkable to save the lives of the many. She lived with it everyday, only suppressing it enough so she could function as humanly as she could.
This was the closest she'd come to being faced with it all over again in such a clear way. What was it about Molly being in trouble like this that triggered it? Maybe it was because she was Skye's kid. Perhaps Melinda was a mother figure to Skye (and now Six) more than she realized. She still wasn't ready to admit it out loud, but...these people were like family, and now Molly was part of it.
This time, Melinda could help the girl. Protect her. Fix the problem.
This wasn't Bahrain, not even close.
She took Molly's hand, and examined her wound.
"Just a scrape. You'll be okay. Let's get you to the clinic. Someone can heal that ankle for you."
***
Molly wrinkled her nose, and tried flexing her ankle. Yep. That hurt. She should probably actually go. Usually she would rather not, would rather just let Doctor Girlfriend or one of her parents or someone patch it up. She usually didn’t hurt herself badly enough to warrant anything more. And Skye always said Doctor Girlfriend was awesome at...doctoring.
“Yeah. Okay,” she agreed. “I think you should piggyback me though. Because my ankle hurts.”
Even if Molly was getting a little big for that on anyone who wasn’t as big as Steve.
***
Melinda considered that for a moment. It probably was the best and easiest way to transport Molly to the clinic. She'd been trained for situations like this. She'd even carried wounded fellow agents to safety during combat. This? She could handle.
She may not be as big and strong as Steve, but she could certainly hold her own.
"Alright. Just this once, since you're wounded."
This was not a ticket for free piggyback rides whenever she wanted. Nope.
***
Molly was going to take it as a ticket anyway.
She just switched from her grossed out face to a grin and stretched out her arms, the universal childhood sign for ‘up’. She wasn’t so much a child anymore, but she was getting a piggyback out of the deal so she’d go with it.
“You might not suck after all.”
***
Melinda smiled, one of those secret kind that no one got to see. For just a brief moment, a small snippet of her former self appeared.